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“What do you wish to know, Your Highness?”
“Should I…do I say anything when they bow like that?” I wanted to add, I’m clueless, but decided that could be left unsaid.
A little smile crept out. He shook his head. “It’s not necessary. If you greet everyone who bows to you, you’ll never have any time for anything. It’s…it goes hand in hand with being the Queen, Your Highness. You’ll get used to it, and you’ll come to expect it. Her Highness Lainule may have been born to her post, but she was just as uncertain when she took the throne.”
I jerked around to face him. “You were with her when she was young? When she took over the Court of Rivers and Rushes?”
He nodded. “I was born to the year she was. We were…I was thought to become King-Elect, and then she met His Lordship Wrath.”
The long stretch of history of this realm, of the people who made it what it was, flashed before my eyes.
“You were from the Court of Snow and Ice even then?”
“As was my brother, Lord Wrath.”
Brothers. That meant…
“You’re my uncle?” I stared at him, searching for the resemblance, but could find none.
He shook his head, again, the flicker of a smile gracing his face. “Not by blood, no. Wrath and I were oath-brothers, much like His Lordship Grieve, and His Lordship Chatter. We were in training together, and we were assigned to be…what you would call exchange students in your world…at the Court of Rivers and Rushes. There I met Lainule, and she and I fell in love. It wasn’t passionate, but the kind of love that feels like it could be a steady glow. And then I introduced her to His Lordship Wrath. At that moment, when their eyes met, when they looked at one another, in that moment I knew I’d lost her. I stepped aside.”
“And so my father became the King and you…”
“I pledged my honor to them and changed courts. When you have fallen in love with the sun, you can’t just walk away. I swore to protect the both of them—she whom I’d loved, and he whom she loved.”
“Did you hate my father?” I had to know. It might affect how he looked at me.
“Hate him? How could I hate the man who was my brother, even if he did sweep away the woman I loved?” He sounded so sincere that there was no way I could believe otherwise.
“Thank you for telling me. There’s so much about my father I don’t know…I barely knew he was my father before he had to leave.” As we approached the exit to the outside, a thought struck me. “Some of you—Grieve, Chatter, you, Fearless…you have names that, in English, describe…qualities. Others like Lainule and you, Teral, don’t. What’s the difference?”
Teral glanced at me, a quizzical look on his face. “How are children named in your world?”
“By their parents,” I said, confused.
He cocked his head, and I had the feeling that hadn’t been the answer he had expected.
Check laughed. “When women are pregnant, they visit the seers. The seer tells them whether their child will be what are known as Will-Begots. The children have extremely strong abilities and life forces, and their destinies are specifically focused. While the stars do not speak of exactly what these destinies are to be, the children who are Will-Begots always end up having a lasting effect. Will-Begots are named after those attributes that speak strongly in their soul to the seers.”
“So you are Check…”
“Because I keep others in check. Grieve, because his soul sang of grief to the seer when he was young. And so forth. Those who are not Will-Begots are named whatever their parents choose to name them.” He opened the door and escorted me out, with Teral behind us.
The blast of winter startled me, but only for a moment. The sled awaited and I settled myself in, allowing Check to spread a thick fur blanket over me as we headed to the twin hollies. I had a dozen more questions, but I decided a few at a time were enough.
Are you with me, Ulean?
As you need me, always.
Then let’s go.
As we approached the portal, I wondered how the town would look now. And if Rhia and I could be just cousins, out shopping, ever again.
Rhiannon was waiting for me just outside the portal by the Twin Oaks. She was wearing a pretty dress, but it looked a lot like the ones in her closet—a sage green sheath dress, and she’d added a golden belt. Her boots were brown and knee-high, and she wore a brown velvet coat over the top of her dress. A golden circlet with a yellow topaz centered in it mirrored my own silver crown. Two guards stood watch beside her, and Check and Teral joined them.
“Where are Peyton and Luna?”
“They’re waiting up at the house for us. I made sure they took guards with them. Rex has promised to act as our chauffeur for the afternoon.” She stretched, and the crown around her head gleamed.
